Chinese team unveils AI-based programmable plant immunity system

BEIJING: Chinese researchers have introduced what they describe as a programmable synthetic plant immunity system, in a development that they say could open a new route for building crop resistance against disease.

The study was led by scientists from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and was published online in the journal Science on July 24. The work sets out an on-demand design platform for synthetic plant immune receptors and offers what the researchers called a universal technical pathway for developing durable and broad-spectrum resistance in crops.

For centuries, crop resistance breeding has depended on identifying resistance genes already found in nature. Natural plant immune receptors have complex structures that are very difficult to engineer, while the search for new natural resistance genes is slow and inefficient. That has left the precise design of dedicated resistance receptors against any pathogen an unresolved challenge in plant immunity.

The researchers said they focused on an unusual type of immune receptor that uses compact, modular integrated decoy domains to detect pathogen proteins. By working with this receptor class, the team said it was able to get past limitations that have constrained conventional receptor engineering.

AI and protein design

Building on advances in artificial intelligence-based protein design, the team proposed using AI to create high-affinity binding proteins from scratch that target pathogen proteins. These designed proteins would then replace natural decoy domains to form entirely new synthetic immune receptors.

The platform represents a shift in crop resistance breeding from relying on naturally occurring traits to creating resistance in a more directed way. Unlike traditional breeding approaches, the technology is intended to allow the on-demand creation of resistance genes.

Gao Caixia, a researcher at the institute, said the combination of AI, protein engineering and plant directed evolution had expanded what scientists can do in this field.

"The deep integration of AI, protein engineering and plant directed evolution has given us the ability to autonomously design plant immune systems."

She said the idea of programmable plant synthetic immunity had created a complete technological chain for artificially generating crop resistance. Looking ahead, she said dedicated immune receptors could be developed quickly against emerging and mutated pathogens, presenting an original Chinese contribution to efforts aimed at global food security.